THE STROKE SURVIVORS FOUNDATION

Mission Statement
Creates a national network that provides post-discharge rehabilitation and support for stroke survivors, their families and caregivers.

About Us

Charlene Murray and George Scola were in their 30’s when they had their strokes and both realised that stroke support in SA, especially for younger stroke survivors, was not easy to find, almost non-existent. Understanding this, they felt compelled to create The Stroke Survivors Foundation in 2010 to offer support to other fellow stroke survivors and also their families. It is not what happens to us, but how we deal with our post-stroke condition that dictates the quality of our lives. Having survived the stroke is the easy part, after that comes the recovering, adjusting and acknowledging the limitations and disabilities for both the survivor and the impact on their family. Staying informed motivated and keeping a positive mind-set…this is the difference between wilting away or Adapting, Improvising and Prospering!

George Scola-Director

Out of the blue, on the morning of 26th of April 2008 while moving house, George aged 37, suffered an Ischemic stroke as a result of anti-cardiolipin syndrome which left him with a right hemiparesis and expressive aphasia. Within 10 months of his stroke, George lost his business and his marriage fell apart, which ended in divorce. In 2010, frustrated after reaching out and searching for support and not finding what he needed and/or required at the time, George co-founded The Stroke Survivors Foundation (SSF) with fellow young stroke survivor, Charlene Whitaker. The SSF’s first project was the Bring it on! Campaign aimed at raising awareness of stroke and the SSF, George walked across South Africa and covered almost 2500 km’s, over nearly 7 months with the goal to motivate fellow stroke survivors, that there is life post-stroke and accepting the reality that unfortunately, no matter which curve ball is thrown at you in life, life goes on! In 2013, the World Stroke Organisation (WSO) invited George to participate in an international team of seven, joint stroke survivors and caregivers, to create the Global Stroke Bill of Rights which was completed and released to the world at the WSO conference in Istanbul 2014. This allowed George to develop a great network of stroke organisations globally, benefitting the SSF by keeping up with global trends and also realise that stroke awareness and support is a global battle to overcome! In August 2016, George was elected to the WSO Board of Directors.

Manesh Nagar – Change Ambassador & Director

Manesh Nagar is an entrepreneur, success and relationship coach, technology specialist and education technologist.
Having spent a number of years in IT understanding and simplifying business processes, for large corporations he has developed a passion for making technology look simple.

As a Heal Your Life coach, Manesh loves working with people, and helping others change the way they see the world around them and the possibilities that lie within them. He strongly believes that with the right focus, attitude and reason, you can overcome the toughest challenges, grow beyond your limiting beliefs and develop inner strength to accomplish your own dreams and vision.

Having successfully grown his own videography business, capturing the precious moments in peoples lives, he now uses his skills to bring education into the homes of South Africans.

He has now joined forces with The Stroke Survivors Foundation, to help improve the lives of Stroke Survivors in South Africa, and help create awareness around stroke, its effects and how to reduce your chances of getting a stroke.

He prefers thinking outside the box, and focusing on solutions that create win-win situations whenever possible. Having successfully completed the Dale Carnegie Course, twice, he understand the importance of developing successful relationships and treating people with respect.

When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

Uyanda Nozintombi Mzizi – Director

After studying Public Relations in 1995, Uyanda went into the corporate world where she also managed to further her education and complete a Business Management diploma. In 2009, Uyanda was blessed with a daughter and realized that she needed a change to accommodate her new single motherhood status. Uyanda was given an opportunity by a major South African insurance company to work as a Financial Advisor and thisis when Uyanda experienced her haemorrhagic stroke. Uyanda had been experiencing incidents like tripping over nothing, slight cramps on her left limbs…similar sensation to pins & needles. Then one day on her way to work Uyanda felt as if her left leg was dislocating at the hip and had to drag her leg in order to walk. Uyanda realising this was something seriously abnormal, she was able to drive her automatic car to her GP who referred her to hospital where she was immediately admitted and underwent a CAT scan. The results revealed a brain abscess on her right ventricle but there were no concerns of it being malignant and thus Uyanda was discharged and given a course of antibiotics to dissolve the abscess but subsequently, the abscess ruptured and affected both ventricles thus, reducing Uyanda to being wheelchair bound! As expected, this has been a huge blow for Uyanda as she now finds herself totally dependent on others to assist her. Fortunately, having a positive mind-set, this experience has been quite an eye opener because it has taught her about human nature but more importantly it has taught her who Uyanda is…a spiritual being. Uyanda’s goal with the SSF is to help as many people she can, prevent them from experiencing a similar ordeal to hers and most importantly, advocate stroke education and awareness.

VISION

To provide a support structure to stoke survivors who do not have a support team;

To reduce the burden of financial stress;

To reduce the burden on the caregivers;

To keep the stroke survivor motivated;

To improve access to rehabilitation centers.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

To create a Stroke Survivors manual for survivors, caregivers and family;

To support existing and where necessary create stroke survivors centres;

To undertake events that motivate stroke survivors;

To increase stroke awareness and education;

To create a registry of Stroke Survivors;

To assist and be part of stroke studies and research;

To inform and assist Stroke Survivors in employment opportunities or inform regarding access to grants and other financial resources;

To create diverse fund raising channels;

To become the model in stroke rehabilitation.

To consolidate all stroke organisations under one single parent body.

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Terms & Conditions

COPYRIGHT

Works of authorship contained on this website, including but not limited to all design, text and images, are owned by the Stroke Survivors Foundation (Association Incorporated under Section 21), registration number 2010/002369/08.

They may not be copied, reproduced, transmitted, displayed, performed, distributed, rented, sub-licensed, altered, stored by subsequent use or otherwise used in whole or in part in any manner without the Stroke Survivors Foundation without prior written consent, except by educational institutions for educational purposes, or for personal and non-commercial uses. When used for personal or educational purposes, the Stroke Survivors Foundation has no objection to the reproduction of content or material provided that the following criteria apply:

• Material can only be branded Stroke Survivors Foundation and acknowledgment must be prominently displayed.

• No fees are charged for your presentation using the content.

• Content is not altered, linked to, reused, further reproduced, or distributed. The information contained in material on this website is intended as an introduction only and should not be relied on in place of advice from your doctor or healthcare professional.

LINKS POLICY

This site contains links to external websites; however the Stroke Survivors Foundation does not necessarily endorse all material on any linked web site and does not provide any warranty as to the quality, accuracy, source, merchantability, fitness for purpose or any other aspect of the content of those web sites.

If you have found anything on these linked sites that you believe to be inappropriate or incorrect, please contact the web administrator info@strokesurvivors.org.za

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all our partners, supporters and sponsors for their contribution to the SSF. Inscape Design College In 2010, Graphic Design students at Inscape Design College were given the task to design a logo for The Stroke Survivors Foundation. After doing research and conceptualising up a storm – designs were executed and 15 students, over 3 campuses, presented their work to members from The Stroke Survivors Foundation. The final design picked for implementation was that of second year student Chan-yue Ma. This logo focuses on the ‘HOPE’ … rather than the ‘STROKE’ aspect of the victim’s journey. It speaks of positivity and the victory that lies in overcoming! For this reason, wings (which create the silhouette of the human face) were used in order to signify freedom but also to depict protection. The idea of ‘halves’ which need to be rehabilitated in order to regain function in the right or left side is also an underlined theme.